NCDPI’s Innovation Leadership Council Met for Inaugural Convening

The Innovation Leadership Council (ILC) met for its inaugural convening to help shape a statewide approach of identifying and scaling promising practices, as outlined in the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction’s (NCDPI) Strategic Plan, Achieving Educational Excellence. The 25-member council is a statewide, cross-sector advisory council established to help identify, evaluate, elevate and scale classroom, school and district approaches with evidence they improve outcomes across North Carolina public schools.

Selected from nearly 400 applicants, the council represents all eight State Board of Education (SBE) regions and brings together educators and leaders from traditional public school districts and schools, charter schools, lab schools, higher education and research. Members serve communities spanning rural, suburban, urban and regional contexts across the state.

Under Pillar 6 of Achieving Educational Excellence, Lead Transformative Change, the plan calls for creating a cross-sector innovation leadership council, establishing a structured process for identifying and evaluating innovative practices and publishing an annual collection of effective and innovative practices.

"When we wrote Achieving Educational Excellence, the very first action under Pillar 6 was to create this council, because leading transformative change starts with finding the people already doing it," North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction Maurice "Mo" Green said. "Somewhere in North Carolina right now, a teacher, a principal or a district has solved a problem that the rest of us are still wrestling with. The Innovation Leadership Council's job is to find that work, test the evidence behind it and make sure a good idea in one county does not stay in one county."

Inaugural Convening in Wilmington

Council members gathered for their inaugural convening Sept. 22–23 at Cape Fear Community College in Wilmington. The two-day working session was hosted by NCDPI in partnership with the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching (NCCAT).

The convening gave members their first opportunity to shape how this statewide effort will work in practice. After grounding the work in the Strategic Plan and the ILC’s purpose, members considered how the ILC can surface the strong work already happening across the state. They also explored how to assess the evidence behind that work and create opportunities for others to learn from and adapt it.

Discussions resulted in preliminary recommendations that ILC workgroups will continue developing throughout the fall as the council prepares to launch a statewide call for innovative practices from schools and districts in early 2027.

“At the heart of this work is a shared belief that innovative and effective practices are already happening in classrooms, schools and districts across North Carolina,” said Dr. Shaun Kellogg, NCDPI senior director of the Office of Research and Promising Practices. “What stood out over these two days was how quickly and thoughtfully the council worked through the practical decisions that will guide this work and help us build the system to elevate those practices and help other educators adapt them into their own contexts.”

Beginning in 2027, the ILC is expected to help launch a statewide call for evidence-based practices, review and select practices demonstrating evidence of impact and potential for broader learning, and support development of an annual collection highlighting effective and innovative work occurring across North Carolina public schools. The council will also advise NCDPI and the SBE on opportunities to strengthen the conditions for innovation, replication and cross-sector learning.

2026-27 Innovation Leadership Council Members

Robin Anderson — Associate Professor of Mathematics and Statistics Education, North Carolina State University, North Central Region
Marlow Artis — Principal, Craven Early College High School, Southeast Region
Paul Barnhardt — Founder, Honor Prep Charter School, Southwest Region
Gregory Moss Bowman — Assistant Principal, Southwest Guilford High School, Piedmont-Triad Region
Michelle Chadwick — Assistant Director of Advanced Learning and STEM, Onslow County Schools, Southeast Region
Lora Cohen-Vogel — Frank A. Daniels Endowed Chair of Public Policy and Education, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Central Region
Tracy LaVerne Cole — Executive Director, East Carolina University Community School, Northeast Region
Ryan Etheridge — Principal, Fallston Elementary School, Cleveland County Schools, Northwest Region
Thomas Feller — Director of School Innovation & Transformation, Pitt County Schools, Northeast Region
James Frye — Principal, Claremont Elementary, Catawba County Schools, Northwest Region
Pamela Elizabeth Henderson — Director of Magnet Schools, Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, Piedmont-Triad Region
Brandi Hinnant-Crawford — John Bardo Distinguished Professor of Educational Leadership, Western Carolina University, Western Region
Amy Holcombe — Dean, Stout School of Education, High Point University, Piedmont-Triad Region
Frances Denise Hunt —Instructional Coach, North Carolina New Teacher Support Program and Program Director for Project FATE, University of North Carolina at Pembroke, Sandhills Region
Tonya Kales — Associate Superintendent of Academic Services, Gaston County Schools, Southwest Region
Jamie King — Superintendent, Sampson County Schools, Sandhills Region
Stephanie Lane — Second Grade Teacher and 2026 NC Charter School Teacher of the Year, Lake Norman Charter Elementary School, Southwest Region
Jennifer McBrayer — Principal, CHASE Middle School, Rutherford County Schools, Western Region
Sharon Richter — Associate Professor of Special Education and Program Coordinator, University of North Carolina Wilmington, Southeast Region
Betsy Rosenbalm — Director, NC Principal Fellows Program and Clinical Assistant Professor in School Administration, Appalachian State University, Northwest Region
Bryan Setser — Director of Innovation, TMSA, North Central Region
Melanie Shaver — Superintendent, Hyde County Schools, Northeast Region
Darlene Steele — Senior Executive Director, Carter G. Woodson School, Piedmont-Triad Region
Kera Stephens — Assistant Principal and Instructional Coach, The Capitol Encore Academy, Sandhills Region
Jessica Yakout — Teacher, Jamestown Middle School, Guilford County Schools, Piedmont-Triad Region

About the Innovation Leadership Council

The Innovation Leadership Council is a cross-sector advisory council created by NCDPI to support implementation of Achieving Educational Excellence: 2025–2030. The council will help North Carolina identify, evaluate and elevate promising and effective practices; strengthen learning across traditional public, charter and lab school settings; and create pathways for effective ideas to be adapted and shared across the state. The ILC is led by NCDPI’s Office of Research and Promising Practices in collaboration with agency leadership and partners.

About Achieving Educational Excellence

Achieving Educational Excellence: 2025–2030 is the shared strategic plan of the North Carolina State Board of Education and the North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction. Organized around eight pillars, the plan establishes the goal of making North Carolina’s public schools the best in the nation by 2030.

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